The Thinking Ape: The Evolutionary Origins of Intelligence
1 journaler for this copy...
From the cover:
"Intelligence" has long been considered to be a feature unique to human beings, giving us the capacity to imagine, to think, to deceive, to make complex connections between cause and effect, to devise elaborate strategies for solving problems. However, like all our other features, intelligence is a product of evolutionary change. Until recently, it was difficult to obtain evidence of this process from the frail testimony of a few bones and stone tool. It has become clear in the last 15 years (the book was published i 1995) that the origins of human intelligence can be investigated by the comparative study of primates, our closest non-human relative, giving strong impetus to the cause for an "evolutionary psychology", the scientific study of the origins of the mind.
D. Byrne has written a throughly readable exploration of this fascinating topic, enhanced by numereous illustrations and photographs. The Thinking Ape presents a new synthesis of the evidence from extensice field studies of primate behaviour and the most modern data on our genetic relationshop to non-humans, showing a gradual accumulation of intellectual skills over 30 million years of evolution.
From reviews:
"An original and interesting thesis that will appeal to general readers as well as researchers in the field" - Nature (Dr. Cecilia Heyes)
"A book that is long overdue. Dick Byrne has done us a valuable service in producing an erudite, yet simply written, overview of the current state of knowledge in this area... This book sets the scene so clearly that it will surely prove to be essential reading for anyone embarking on the study of primate cognition and behaviour" - Trends in Ecology and Evolution (Professor Robin Dunbar)
"This book is an important contribuation to primatology and makes a wonderful material for hot debates in classes and gradutes seminars" - Animal Behaviour (Dr. Elisabeth Visalberghi)
En særdeles god bog med en god indføring i et teoretisk syn på intelligensen. Kan også anbefales til dig der bare er interesseret i intelligensen, da den med sine mange forskningseksempler er ganske underholdende læsning.
"Intelligence" has long been considered to be a feature unique to human beings, giving us the capacity to imagine, to think, to deceive, to make complex connections between cause and effect, to devise elaborate strategies for solving problems. However, like all our other features, intelligence is a product of evolutionary change. Until recently, it was difficult to obtain evidence of this process from the frail testimony of a few bones and stone tool. It has become clear in the last 15 years (the book was published i 1995) that the origins of human intelligence can be investigated by the comparative study of primates, our closest non-human relative, giving strong impetus to the cause for an "evolutionary psychology", the scientific study of the origins of the mind.
D. Byrne has written a throughly readable exploration of this fascinating topic, enhanced by numereous illustrations and photographs. The Thinking Ape presents a new synthesis of the evidence from extensice field studies of primate behaviour and the most modern data on our genetic relationshop to non-humans, showing a gradual accumulation of intellectual skills over 30 million years of evolution.
From reviews:
"An original and interesting thesis that will appeal to general readers as well as researchers in the field" - Nature (Dr. Cecilia Heyes)
"A book that is long overdue. Dick Byrne has done us a valuable service in producing an erudite, yet simply written, overview of the current state of knowledge in this area... This book sets the scene so clearly that it will surely prove to be essential reading for anyone embarking on the study of primate cognition and behaviour" - Trends in Ecology and Evolution (Professor Robin Dunbar)
"This book is an important contribuation to primatology and makes a wonderful material for hot debates in classes and gradutes seminars" - Animal Behaviour (Dr. Elisabeth Visalberghi)
En særdeles god bog med en god indføring i et teoretisk syn på intelligensen. Kan også anbefales til dig der bare er interesseret i intelligensen, da den med sine mange forskningseksempler er ganske underholdende læsning.
